With different rules for education institutions in the State to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire and Rescue Services Department, there are differences between schools and colleges, government and private institutions and arts and science colleges and technical institutions in the fire safety norms adopted too.
Private (self-financed) schools annually apply to the Fire and Rescue Services Department, for every three years when they apply to the School Education Department for renewal of recognition, the NOCs are a must, said a private school correspondent.
Nursery and play schools had also begun applying for the NOC only after the School Education Department began a crackdown on such institutions about two years ago. But in the past two years, whether those schools continued to get the NOC every year was not known because their applications remained pending, said G. Krishnaraj, state general secretary, Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary, Matriculation and Higher Secondary School’s Welfare Association. There were 340 such nurseries and play schools in Coimbatore.
However, there seemed to be no such compulsion for government schools, including those run by local bodies. Coimbatore Corporation and School Education Department officials in Coimbatore said the schools did not apply for NOC from the Fire and Rescue Services Department.
As for colleges, technical institutions (engineering and management colleges) had of late begun obtaining the NOC as the All India Council for Technical Institutions had said that it would insist on those from the 2018-19 academic year, said a college correspondent. But as arts and science colleges came under a different set up, they faced no such compulsion and therefore did not obtain the NOC annually. Officials in the Fire and Rescue Services Department said they did not inspect as many colleges as schools.
Commenting on the different yardstick, consumer activist K. Kathirmathiyon said implementation of the fire safety rules should be uniform for all institutions as every life was valuable. The rules should be changed to give more powers to the Fire and Rescue Services Department as they should not just act on applications to grant NOC but should suo motto inspect institutions and recommend punitive action to either collector or local body executives.
